Recall
by Swirlycloud
Summary: (post-war) Naruto subjects his sensei to the waterfall of truth. What things will the two of them learn?
1. Traveling

**A/N**: More characters appear in following chapters. Will be somewhat of a series of the aftermath of the war through the eyes of mainly Kakashi and Naruto. Eventually gets more in-depth.

Enjoy!

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_—__-_

It had only been about three and half weeks since the Fourth Great Shinobi War had come to its end, and student and teacher were already taking a break from the reconstruction, cleanup, and administrative duties they had previously been assigned.

Neither were comfortable with it.

"Kakashi-sensei?"

"Mm?"

"You know, when I went with Bee-occhan to learn how to control Kurama's powers, I first had to sit in front of the waterfall of truth." Naruto stuck his hands behind his head as the two strolled through the forest.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah..." The jinchuuriki stared up into the sky, watching the clouds. He could feel Kakashi's gaze bore into him. "It was a really weird experience, but I'm glad I went through with it...even though I didn't have a choice."

"Something tells me you didn't come to this island for a vacation, Naruto," he said insightfully, raising his eyebrows dully.

Naruto controlled himself. He could still feel the intensity of the stare although a quick glance to his left confirmed that Kakashi was no longer looking at him. "Ah, well...Sakura-chan did force me to vacation time," he said rather glumly, trying to play the part well. "No doing anything for a whole week, at the least." He recalled her exact words.

"_NARUTO!" Sakura bellowed. "Absolutely not! Take a week off, at least. You've done your part for this village—for the world. "_

_"__But Sakura-chan, so has the rest of the world—" _

_She crossed her arms. "That's Rokudaime-sama, according to you. And the world _is _at least taking a break every few hours, without churning out four thousand kage bunshin everyday to help rebuild all the damaged countries. You've done months of work within weeks. That's enough."_

_He smiled at remembering his own approval of her recent, esteemed position. She had studied under Tsunade-baachan for 3 years after all, not only undergoing intense training, but also witnessing the Hokage's duties firsthand in the meantime. The village had been ardent to bestow the title upon the new Hokage due to her outstanding efforts in the war, especially as a lead medical ninja. She knew how to lead, and bring people together. The surviving Konoha shinobi recognized that she was a wise choice because of her intelligence, patience, and skill—all sharpened during her time under Tsunade's tutelage, and Naruto couldn't agree more. He let his thoughts slide further back in time. The Godaime's sacrifice in saving the other Kages had been a great loss, but at least her efforts were not in vain. He huffed, bringing himself back to the present. _

_She sighed in exasperation at his lack of acknowledgment. "Not just are you the hero of the war, you are becoming the hero of the world itself. Let everyone else pitch in and do their part, too. Believe it or not, although they appreciate the help, they want the construction of their towns to be mostly of their own doing, ok?"_

_Naruto winced at this realization, and wondered if Sakura knew what she had said was guaranteed to have an effect on him. _

_"__Hai, hai, wakattebayo," he said loudly, the smile on his lips as genuine as ever, "...Rokudaime-sama." The chivalry in his voice caused her to blush a little. "But! Only if Kakashi-sensei gets to come." _

_**Good call, kid. Half of those kage bunshins are thanks to me, and frankly, I'm tired. **_

_Naruto scratched the back of his neck nervously. _

_Unable to resist smiling back, she raised an eyebrow and waved a hand in the air dismissively. "Good. I was about to send Kakashi-sensei with you, anyway. Go—take him with you. Get out of here." She tipped her head down while holding his gaze firmly. Seeing Naruto start to open his mouth, her eyebrow settled and she said in an even tone, "You just go and relax at the hot springs or whatever. I can handle things here." She looked warmly to her left, and then to her right. Shikamaru, Sai, and Shizune returned her confident expression before looking at Naruto again. "_We _can handle things here."_

_—__-_

* * *

"Maa, I don't really want to be here, either," Kakashi said, oblivious to Naruto's feelings, as he pulled out his favorite book from his weapons pack and flipped it open to a page whose corner had been folded one too many times.

Feeling somewhat deflated at Kakashi's expressed boredom, Naruto slouched further into his casual walk. He heard a page flip almost noiselessly.

"But I'm really glad the war is over with. That was probably the most tiring experience I will ever have needed to deal with." His eyes did not leave the page.

Naruto turned back to look at his sensei. He had not heard him admit such a thing before. He felt the bridge between teacher and friend start to diminish. This gave him the additional courage he needed to speak his mind. He scowled. "Then put that damn book away! We're here to relax—that book may be your escape when you're on active duty, but..." He threw his hands out in front of him. "We're _here_...far away from Konoha and any kind of work. The war is OVER...so just—look around and enjoy yourself. There's nothing to escape...anymore..." He let the last few words dangle in the air softly, and slowly let his eyes return to the one beside him.

He winced. Just one look from Kakashi put Naruto back in his place. He immediately felt foolish for speaking so rudely about the jounin's matters. Kakashi had never been open with him before, so why did he think he'd start now?

_—__-_

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**A/N**: Thanks for reading! I've been wanting to post this forever, but only got the motivation to clean it up just recently... I hope you like it.

Tell me what you think!


	2. Pondering

**A/N**: Sorry for the wait; this is not my top priority story... (more info on profile page)

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—-

An hour or so later, they were still strolling through sparse forest.

Kakashi spoke out of the blue, as if they had just been talking seconds earlier. "Naruto...I'm not standing before the waterfall of truth."

_Well that was blunt_. He pouted his lips comically. "A-ha, how'd you know...?"

Kakashi suppressed a chuckle. "For one thing, you are very easy to see through."

Feeling the bridge drop dangerously low this time, Naruto smirked. "Want to test that statement?"

The jounin raised his eyebrows and slowly turned to look at the world's savior. He was suddenly humbled at the thought of who the boy was for a second, so that his senses failed him and he bumped straight into a low-hanging branch of an old oak.

"..."

"Itte..." he muttered. He quickly recovered and walked ahead. "Eheh. Well that was embarrassing."

"Ahahahahahaha!" Naruto doubled over in laughter.

Glancing over in irritation at Naruto, he said lightly, "Just pretend that didn't happen."

"Hm, you know I'm not going to let that one go, Kakashi-sensei," he retorted amusedly. "So, what's on your mind?"

He looked over at his former student quizzically. "What do you mean?"

Naruto glanced at the small, crisp, fallen leaf resting upon page 89 and raised a nonchalant eyebrow. "Well, it typically doesn't take me half an hour to read one page." He took in the non-response he received. "But I don't know about you."

"But it's my favorite scene..."

The blond-haired boy scoffed. "The whole book is your favorite scene. ...I haven't heard one creepy laugh—" He heard the man let out a low, lecherous chuckle. "Ok, now you're just doing it on purpose! Who would read that garbage, anyway," he mumbled to the side.

"The plot is actually quite good," he contended distantly, a faint blush consuming the visible portion of his cheek. He turned the page intently. His eyes widened as it was suddenly snatched away, snapped shut, and thrown into Naruto's rear weapons pack rather unceremoniously. The scene felt familiar, as if it had unfolded in this exact fashion a bit too many times during his youth. "Nande~?" he whined, getting rather impatient at the man—boy—student—no, former student—person—but a kind of important person, at that—Uzumaki Naruto.

The sound of a waterfall gushing at full speed struck the air thunderously.

"This is a good spot."

Kakashi looked up. He hadn't even heard the loud crash of water hitting water echoing in the distance as they'd approached the place. He looked over at Naruto doubtfully. _Great_.

"Yooshi." Naruto's backpack hit the ground with a light thud. He pulled off his jacket and shirt, and stripped off the shuriken holster and weapons pack he carried, leaving on only his distinguishing orange pants and hitai-ate. He ran forward and jumped into the surprisingly deep, 15 ft-wide pool of water just beneath the waterfall with a happy shout.

Kakashi couldn't help but smile. _He's enjoying himself. _

Naruto's head popped up from beneath the water's surface and made its way to the edge of the water. He folded his tanned, muscular arms atop the land's edge and plopped his head upon them contentedly. "Come on, the water's warm," he lied enticingly, closing his eyes tight as a big grin crossed his face. He opened his eyes at the lack of response, and noticed his sensei had sat down in front of him, cupping his cheek with a gloved hand, not fully aware that he was facing the falls. Naruto peered into Kakashi's eye for several minutes, even after it had closed. _He's sitting right in front of it...does he know this is not just a random waterfall we stopped at?_

Upon opening his dark grey eye, the faraway look diminished when he turned his head toward Naruto curiously. "Hm?"

Naruto frowned. _That was fast..._ "What did you see?" he asked straightforwardly.

...

"Saa...I'm just going to take a nap here," he said carelessly, ignoring his former student. He removed his backpack and flopped his head on the inside of his elbow, curling up on the ground in a subtle defensive position.

"Sensei..."

"Ah, Naruto...just let me be," he chided tiredly, He had a lot on his mind. "And do be careful. It's not exactly warm out here. I don't need to drag you back home with a cold."

Naruto noticed the worried look in his eye before it shut yet again, hoping for restful sleep. He sighed shallowly, wondering what kinds of things Kakashi had seen in those brief moments.

—-

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**A/N**: The direction may alter somewhat from here. Penny _(or a chapter 3)_ for your thoughts :D ?


	3. Seeing

**A/N**: But you can't find out just yet! ^_^ That would make this story rather short.

As for this one... flashback? Dream? Can you tell?

**—****-**

* * *

"No, Sasuke!"

Naruto tried to stop him from landing a direct chidori hit to their sensei's back.

"STOP!" _Sasuke...!_

The jounin, exhausted from the days at war and his emotional dealings with his former comrade, failed to move out of the way in time, only turning slightly to face the fast-approaching presence.

The two seconds were deathly silent as the sound of crackling chakra diminished completely. Naruto faltered in his step.

Did he really just kill their sensei?

There was no time for rage. Naruto made a dash for Kakashi, catching him as he fell, watching his dark eye slide toward him before it shut. "..." Words would not come.

Sasuke stood, slightly frozen at his own doing. Did he really just kill his sensei? A wave of disgust washed over him. He was becoming Orochimaru.

First it was Itachi, and now that piece of shit snake...

Who was he? _What was he?_

Naruto blinked several times as he loosely grasped the limp body of his sensei. He could feel long-lost rage beginning to boil within him. He looked up at teammate. "Sasuke..." he said in a grave, murderous tone. He thought he could forgive Sasuke for everything he'd done.

He always gave everyone second chances. Hell, for Sasuke he'd forgiven him time and time again...even, _even_ after he'd attempted to kill Sakura. But this...

_This was unforgivable. _

A gloved hand latched onto Naruto's arm. He looked toward the source of the touch. Their sensei...his sensei...was still conscious. He reached tenderly for the spot that had been hit. To his great relief, the strike was rather shallow for the usually powerful attack; luckily, the worst damage it appeared to have done was send an extremely painful shock of electricity that dwindled to agonizingly numbing stiffness. Blood seeped out moderately from the wound, staining Naruto's own garments.

Sasuke had not used lethal force.

This realization caused numerous emotions to swirl inside him. "Sasuke...you only wanted to hurt him?" he questioned, his voice a mixture of hurt, betrayal, and understanding. Kakashi possessed a Sharingan. There was only one likely explanation for it, but Naruto chose not to believe it. Kakashi-sensei was not like that.

Sasuke could not believe the words that Naruto spoke. Did that mean he had not dealt a killing blow? How? He remembered the feelings...feelings of ire and hurt, seconds before he struck the Copy-nin. But then...

That's right...

The intensity of his chidori dropped drastically as he felt the finality of his decision towards his teacher. Like a son to a father, no matter how angry he was with the man, it all came down to the fact that Sasuke was still pure. He was full of feelings and they steered him into many different directions in his life. His feelings are what drove him onto the darkest path...

Yet...

They are also what made him realize his deep, concealed love for the jounin. The gravity of his action almost made his knees give out. Hatake Kakashi...the man had taught him so much...risked his life for his team's sake...for Sasuke's sake...

Their one-on-one training...his sealing away of Orochimaru's cursed mark...He loved him like a son, a kid brother...his love was second to Naruto's...(and third to Itachi's...) And how had he repaid him? By trying to kill him with his own technique?

"I said...you can take it out on _me_...! Fight _me_, Goddamn it!"

He saw Kakashi grimace, and his mismatched eyes opened once again, briefly, to stare at Sasuke. Even while he lay there, hurt, the look of betrayal in his eyes was nowhere to be found.

"Kill him," Obito's voice seeped into the air.

Sasuke's head felt like it was going to burst.

—-

Even now, his head felt like it was going to burst. The aftermath of the war was too much for him to take in. He had been granted forgiveness...by Naruto. He was loathed by everyone but that idiot. He didn't think Kakashi loved him anymore...not after what he did. Even Naruto had extreme difficulty coming to terms with Sasuke's previous actions.

_"__I said...you can take it out on _me_! Fight _me_, God damn it!"_

Sasuke could still see the redness of Naruto's eyes. It was not the redness of the Kyuubi, but the redness of anguish.

Maybe Danzou had been right. Sasuke just had too much anger pent up inside him, and he was willing to take it out on anyway who stood in his way.

He was going to end the lives of anyone possessing a Sharingan, including his own. His intention was to kill Kakashi and then himself, leaving no one to meddle with the affairs or the legacy of his dead clan.

—-

* * *

Sasuke held his head. _What kind of dream...was that..._ He opened his eyes and stared at nothingness. _None_ of that had happened. So why was this scene playing out in his mind?

Kakashi's masked, smiling face floated across his vision. Although mysterious, he looked genuinely happy to take on the Uchiha as a student. He cared about his team.

Sasuke now wanted to do the same. Or rather...he had always cared. But now...it was different. He would act on his feelings and accept them, rather than try to eliminate them. Elimination, he'd learned, was impossible. Gaara had been right. The silver-lining was still there, in the back of his mind, and Sasuke had finally decided to seize it. Why lose yet again what you've always wished for, when it had—even if briefly—transcended the overwhelming desire to kill the man that stole your youth and put you through hell?

He had abandoned his decision to destroy the village after speaking with the first four Hokage, and had subsequently come to the aid of the Great Shinobi Alliance. _So why...?_ He'd make sure to talk with the man about it, later. Or...no._  
_

It didn't matter. It was just a dream. A faraway nightmare...

—-

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**A/N**: You guessed it! Dream. Oooff course. (now that Sasuke is on the battlefield I suppose everything is exposed! ) I kind of wrote this in... January/February... :D (sorry)

I wonder who is up next (haha of course I would not know such a thing...) and how they will affect the story... (On a side note, do any of you think Sasuke is still capable of this? It's definitely something he's tried in the past, but I doubt he'd do such a thing now...going and betraying everyone all over again. Although his recent declaration of his desire to become Hokage is rather telling. Sasuke...don't be an idiot! Be good in 632! Be bros with Naruto, and respect Sakura!)


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